THE habit of censure implies a belief in something apart from good, and, whether humanly just or unjust, censure and all its attributes can never be found in the realm of reality, where all is blameless perfection. We learn in Christian Science that the tender, loving Father has glorified His only begotten child with the reflection of His perfect selfhood, therefore to condemn man is in the same breath to condemn God. But, from this metaphysical standpoint there is no condemnation in man's attitude to man, for the relationship between spiritual ideas is one of perpetual love, wherein perfection only is present and evil ever absent. Thus, even as known axioms by their very truth are in no need of justification, so is the son of God in no need of defense from censure. Verily, he is forever blest, not condemned, and there is no other son.
Where, then, is the accuser? He is found only in that relative law which insists that the nothingness which claims reality for itself return to its native state; in other words, that dust be relegated to dust. In mathematics there is a symbol of this law, as in the case where the mistake that five is the multiple of two times two is condemned by the law that declares four to be the multiple. The operation of such law proves, in the midst of human wrangling, that the verdict of unmerited censure can no more alter the perfection of spiritual man than praise is able to glorify the son of mortality. An understanding of this enables humanity to assume a Christlike attitude toward the would-be accuser and to strive more earnestly to overcome all unmerited censure with the law that permits of "no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." He who does this has surely no need to open his mouth in self defense. Rather does his protection lie in safeguarding the priceless treasure of a free conscience, around which angels of wisdom and humility continually hover to sustain well-doing, until all misjudgment is slain by blameless purity and God is glorified in man's reflected goodness.
This attitude requires much self-surrender and the substitution of the new commandment, "Love one another," for the old Mosaic law of "an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth." Nevertheless its acquisition is well worth the price, for it transforms the would-be hindrances of misjudgment into rare opportunities for drawing nearer to God. It opens the way to that deep-settled calm beneath the angry sea of misunderstanding where sensitive self is lost in the consciousness of the Love that beholds only perfection. Herein one becomes a law unto himself, and is qualified to speak to error with authority. This authority, however, because of its unworldliness, enrages evil, until in dire revenge it would turn the lie upon the innocent. Verily will the good of such a one be evil spoken of, as well as his every fault exposed.
